Air cushion games

ABSTRACT

Games of the type in which playing pieces are slid over a playing surface characterized in that the panel forming the playing surfaces is provided with a great number of holes in communication with an air supply under pressure which lifts the playing pieces off the playing surface, resulting in very little friction opposing the movement of the playing pieces. Means are provided to control the pressure of the air supplied to the through bores in order to adjust the coefficient of friction between the playing pieces and the playing surfaces. A few types of games are described incorporating the above principle, including a game of curling.

United States Patent 1 Ducharme 1 i 3,722,888 1 1 Mar. 27, 1973 AIR CUSHION GAMES [22] Filed: Apr. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 138,630

[52] US. Cl. ..273/126 R, 248/346, 273/128 CS [51] Int. Cl. ..A63i 7/00 [58] Field ofSearch....273/108, 126, 127,128, 86 D,

7,697 4/1902 Great Britain ..273/l26 R Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Theatrice Brown Attorney-Pierre Lesperance [57] ABSTRACT Games of the type in which playing pieces are slid over a playing surface characterized in that the panel forming the playing surfaces is provided with a great number of holes in communication with an air supply under pressure which lifts the playing pieces off the playing surface, resulting in very little friction opposing the movement of the playing pieces. Means are provided to control the pressure of the air supplied to the through bores in order to adjust the coefficient of friction between the playing pieces and the playing surfaces. A few types of games are described incorporating the above principle, including a game of curling.

7 Claims, 23 Drawing Figures l i l -C Patented March 27, 1973 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Jacques DUCHARME @BY Qmfiw 4W AGENT Patented March 27, 1973 3,722,888

6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Jacques DUCHARME 7/ FIG. 10 BY QM fi f- AGENT Patented March 27, 1973 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 AGENT E i W QM wk kf mQLQK 8 8 3.. R Q 3 kfl Patented March 27,1973 3,722,888

6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Ja cques DUCHARME AGENT AIR CUSHION GAMES The present invention relates to games of the type in which playing pieces are caused to be slid on a playing surface. Several games of this type require the playing pieces to travel with very little friction and normally the playing surface is ice, such as, for instance, in the game of curling.

Indoor upkeep of ice surface requires expensive refrigerating equipment and proper upkeep of the ice is time-consuming. Other types of games in which the playing surface is a non-ice surface, such as wood, cement and the like, are rather limited in their possibilities due to the relatively high friction of the playing surface.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide games of the type in which playing pieces are slid over a playing, surface, in which the friction between the playing surface and the playing pieces is reduced to a considerable degree and approaches the friction of an ice surface, thereby affording new possibilities in these types of games and also enabling to play on a permanent non-ice playing surface games which are normally played on ice but without the drawbacks of such an ice surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide means to vary the effective friction between the playing surface and the playing pieces, while the playing pieces are moving.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means to adjust to different values the effective friction of the playing surface at different sections of said surface.

In accordance with the invention, the playing surface consists of a horizontally disposed flat panel, made of solid material and having a plurality of through bores in communication with a chest or box of gas under pressure. The playing pieces slide over the perforated surface and are lifted by the gas issuing from the through bores, so that the pieces ride on an air cushion formed underneath the same.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, which illustrate a few preferred embodiments of the invention embodying the air cushion principle. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a table type game for imitating the game of curling;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section along 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of one of the playing pieces used in the curling type game of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a partial top plan view of the playing piece of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section along line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-section, on an enlarged scale, along line 7-7 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a partial longitudinal section along line 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another type of game in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial cross-section of the top panel of the game of FIG. 9 or FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of a modified embodiment of a game for playing an imitation of curling;

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal section along line 12-l2 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of a playing piece or stone" for use in imitation curling game of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a side elevation of the stone of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a partial vertical section of the stone of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a partial perspective view of the box, or chest, for supplying air under pressure to the playing surface of the table type game of FIG. 1 l; the side walls are cut away along line 16l 6 of FIG. 12;

' FIG. 16A is a partial plan section of the chest of FIG. 16 showing the central portion thereof;

FIG. 17 is a partial longitudinal section on line 17 17 of FIG. 11 showing the arrangement of a gas pressure regulating valve;

FIG. 18 is a view along line 18-18 of FIG. 17 showing the bottom of the pressure regulating valve;

FIG. 19 is a top plan view of the valve of FIG. 17;

FIG. 20 is a section along line 20-20 of FIGS. 16A and .FIG. 12;

FIG. 21 is a partial cross-section along line 2l.21 of FIG. 20; and

FIG. 22 is a vertical cross-section of the embodiment of FIGS. 11 and 12 taken at the center portion of the table and showing the air blower arrangement.

In the drawings, like reference characters indicate like elements throughout.

FIGS. 1 to 7 and also 10 show a first embodiment of the invention in the form of a table game imitating the game of curling normally played on ice with stones and curling brooms. This embodiment comprises an elongated box or chest, generally indicated at I and consisting of a top wall 2, side walls 3, end walls 4 and bottom wall 5. The top wall 2 is covered by a smooth and flat panel 6 adhering thereto and defining a playing surface for the game. The top wall 2 and panel 6 are provided over the entire playing surface with a plurality of through bores 7, 7' (see FIG. 10) opening at the top of panel 6 and in communication with the inside chamber 8 defined by chest I.

The side walls 3 extend upwardly from panel 6 to define lateral longitudinally extending boards 9 and also extend downwardly from the bottom wall 5 to reinforce the table and, finally, extend outwardly from the end walls 4, being joined at each outer end by a transverse panel 10, which together with the side walls and extensions, support a shelf 11 at a lower level than panel 6. The table assembly is supported by floor-engaging legs 12. The lower ends of the legs 12 are provided with adjustable pads, not shown, in order to set panel 6 in truly horizontal position.

The chest 1 is made as gastight as possible. In the center of the chest, bottom wall 5 has a pair of holes 13 receiving the outlets, or' discharge ends, of electricallyoperated air blower assemblies 14, the casings of which are secured to the bottom wall 5, so as to supply air under pressure within the chamber 8. The top wall 2 and panel 6 are reinforced and maintained in flat condition by means of upright boards 15 disposed centrally thereof, but allowing free air circulation within the chamber 8. The boards 15 support at their center a horizontally disposed traverse baffle 16 arranged opposite the discharge ends of the two air blowers 14 for more equally distributing the air within the chamber 8.

The chamber 8 is divided by transverse partitions 17 into a central compartment 18 and two end compartments 19. As shown in FIG. 6, each partition 17 is provided with a hole 20 making communication between the compartments l8 and 19. This hole can be adjustably closedby a slide valve 21 applied against the partition 17 and consisting of a board slidable through the side walls 3 and provided with a handgrip 22 at both ends. The board 21 has two spaced holes 23 which can be selectively brought into register with hole 20 by lateral movement of the slide valve by one or the other I of handgrips 22. In the position shown in FIG. 6, hole 20 is closed. By moving the valve 21 one way or the other, one or the other of the two holes 23 will be progressively brought into register with hole 20. Thus, the air pressure in the end compartments 19 can be adjustably decreased with respect to the air pressure within the central compartment 18.

The overall air pressure within the chamber 8, that is within the central compartment 18 as well as within the end compartments 19, can be manually adjusted by a second slide valve 23 consisting of a plate secured to an actuating bar 24, the latter transversely guided across the side walls 3 and actuable by handles 25. By manipulating either handle 25 transversely of the table, valve 23 will progressively cover or uncover a hole 26 made in the bottom wall of the chest or box 1.

The game is provided with targets 27 consisting of a plurality of concentric circles inscribed on panel 6 in the two end zones of the playing surface on top of the end compartments 19. Hog lines 28 define a central zone of the playing surfaces and the two end zones or houses where the targets 27 are located. The hog lines 28 are disposed just above the partitions 17.

The game is played with a plurality of playing pieces 29, each in the form of a disc made of a core of compressed wood, as shown at 30 in FIG. 4, with two solid and smooth flat layers 31. The discs or playing pieces 29 preferably have a diameter such in relation to the spacing between the holes 7 of the panels 6 that, at anyone place over the playing surface, the disc will cover at least one hole 7 and, preferably, about four to five holes 7.

In a preferred embodiment, the playing surface is about ll feet long by 2 feet wide; the spacing between holes 7 is about 1 inch and the holes are about thirty thousandths of an inch in diameter. The air blowers 14 are adapted to supply air under pressure in the box or chest 1 at about 5 inch water gauge. The playing pieces 29 weigh about 3 ounces and have a diameter between 2% and 2% inches. The air pressure is sufficient to lift the playing pieces off the playing surface 6, so that air cushion is formed underneath the playing pieces, so that they travel with very little friction on the playing surface.

The game is played in a manner similar to the conventional ice curling game with the air blowers l4 continuously in operation and the playing pieces 29 initially stored on a shelf 11. The first player plays his two discs 29 along the playing surface to the opposite end of the table such as to try to reach the tee or center circle of the target 27. The next player tries to dislodge the discs of the first player by playing two discs 29. The game is continued in the same manner. Players change ends of the table when one end" is completed.

The air cushion provided under each playing piece 29 produces so little friction that a very slight departure in the uniformity of the air distribution along the length and width of the playing surface and/or a very slight inclination of the playing surface, causes undue or unwanted movement of the playing pieces at the end of their throw. In order to overcome this defect and in order also to slow down the playing pieces in the houses or end zones, slide valves 23 are adjusted for the entire game so as to substantially decrease the air pressure in the end compartments 19. For instance, supposing an air pressure of 5 inch water gauge is desired in the center zone, then one will adjust the pressure in the end zone to about 1 inch water gauge pressure. This will allow the playing pieces to slightly touch the actual surface of the panel 6, increasing the friction resulting in the playing pieces remaining stationary after their intended movement has been completed.

The players can also, if desired, actuate either slide valve 23 by means of one or the other handle 25 during the play, to thereby adjustably allow escape of air through the chest bottom to vary the overall pressure in the center compartment and also in the end compartments, so as to vary the friction during the time the playing pieces are in actual movement. Thus, manipulation of handles 25 has a certain analogy with the use of curling brooms, because in ice curling, the brooms reduce the friction of the ice just ahead of the stone. in the present embodiment, friction is increased by opening the slide valve 23 and decreased by closing it. Thus, the game may be played in two manners: first, with the air pressure adjusted at a maximum for minimum air friction, the valve 23 being normally closed; second with the air pressure adjusted at less than maximum with valve 23 normally open. In the first case, friction is increased by opening valve 23, if the playing piece 29 is thrown too fast. In the second case, friction is decreased to prolong the movement of the playing piece, if the latter is thrown too slow. The second case more closely resembles the use of a broom in ice curling. Obviously, a combination of the two manners of play could be used.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of a game embodying the air cushion principle of the invention, wherein the playing surface is defined by a top panel 30 of a box, or chest 31, the inside of which is connected by a hose 32 to a supply of gas, preferably air under pressure, not shown.

Panel 30 is provided over its entire surface with a plurality of uniformly distributed through bores 33 in communication with the inside of the chest, so that air is discharged through said holes continuously during the game. The playing surface has a shape in the form of a regular hexagon with upstanding posts 34 at each corner. Elastic bands 35 are strung between the posts. The playing pieces 36, in the form of discs with flat top and bottom surfaces, float on the air discharged through the holes 33, whereby the coefficient of friction of the playing surface is considerably reduced. However, the air pressure within the chest can be decreased by opening anyone of a plurality of valves 37 provided at the side walls of the chest. These valves may consist of a disc pivoted at 38 to the chest and having one or two operating handles 39 and an excentric hole 40 adapted to come in register with a hole 41 made in the chest wall to allow bleeding of an adjusted amount of air.

The game is placed on a table top; the air under pressure is continuously supplied during the game and the playing pieces 36 are moved over the panel with the object of reaching the center of target 42 marked at the center of panel 30. The disc can be bounced off the elastic bands 35. Due to the low coefficient friction, the disc can be made to travel for a considerable time on the table before coming to rest, bouncing off the elastic bands all the time. In fact, trials have determined that on a playing surface of a size having 3 feet across, the playing disc can be made to bounce back and forth about 60 times before coming to rest.

The valve 37 may be manipulated by the player to drop the pressure at the required moment to have the playing piece come to a stop at the center of target 42.

FIGS. 11 to 22 show another embodiment in accordance with the invention and illustrating the construction of a table for playing a game analogous to ice curling and showing improvements over the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 8. As in the first em bodiment, there is provided a chest which is substantially airtight, of elongated rectangular shape and defined by a top wall 46, side walls 47, end walls 48 and bottom 49. Top wall 46 is lined on its upper surface with a layer or panel providing a smooth and flat playing surface and adhered to the top wall.

The side walls 47 extend above the top panel 50 and below the chest. The protruding portions form boards 47 for the playing surface. The walls of the chest are extended past the end walls 48 to define a storage zone 51 at each end of the table on the outside of the back line 52, marked on panel 50. The storage zone 51 is preferably divided in two sections by longitudinal center line 53, marked on the top panel, and each section is a different color, so that the two sets of differently colored playing pieces or stones 87 may be lodged each in the storage zone of like color. The walls of the chest form a rigid unit completed by outer end walls 47". The top wall 46 and panel 50 are maintained in rigid flat condition by a system of longitudinal boards 54 and transverse boards 54', as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a, located within the chest; boards 54 are provided with air communication holes 55 and boards 54' terminate short of side walls 47, so that the various compartments thus. defined are all in air communication with each other.

The assembly is supported by legs 56 with adjustable foot pads, not shown, so as to be able to set the top layer 50 in as perfectly horizontal position as possible. In a preferred embodiment, the overall length of the table is about 12 feet and its width about 24 inches. The top panel 50 is marked with hog lines 57 defining a central playing zone 58 and two end playing zones, or houses, 59, each containing a target 60 marked on the playing surface. The panel 50, over the entire area of the playing surface between the back lines 52, is provided with a great number of uniformly distributed holes 61, each in register with a hole 62 made in top wall 46. Just underneath each hog line 57, the chest 45 is provided with a transverse partion 63'(See FIGS. 16 and 16A), which separates the chest into three airtight compartments, namely a center compartment underneath central playing zone 58 and two end compartments each underneath an end playing zone 59. Each partition 63 has a central aperture 64, which can be adjustably closed by a slide valve 65 in the form of a door of rectangular shape guided in guideways 66 (See FIGS. 20,21) secured to the partition 63 and running past the aperture 64.

A cable 67 is secured to slide valve 65 by an attachment plate 68. Cable 67 extends along the inside of the perimeter of the central compartment of the chest 45, as shown in FIG. 1 6a, being trained on idle corner pulleys 69. The ends of the cable are attached by the-intermediary of tension springs 70 to a chain 71 wound on a drum 72, which is secured to a shaft 73 extending to the exterior of the chest and adapted to be manually rotated by a knob 74. The two apertures 64 are transversely offset with respect to the longitudinal center line of the table, as shown in FIG. 16a, and the two slide valves are disposed on opposite sides of the two respective apertures 64, so that it will be understood that rotation of knob 74 in one direction will move the two slide valves 65 in opposite transverse directions to adjustably close the apertures 64 an equal amount. Rotation of the knob 74 in the opposite direction will correspondingly open the apertures 64 an adjusted equal amount. Thus, manipulation of knob 74 will adjust the air pressure within the end compartments of the chest to an equal value, which will be lower than the air pressure in the central chest compartment, depending on the amount of closure of apertures 64.

Central compartment 75 of chest 45 is provided near each end thereof with a bleeding valve assembly 76 for adjustably bleeding the air to the surrounding atmosphere by manipulation of the associated lever handles 77. Each valve assembly comprises a flap valve disc 78 normally closingthe circular aperture 79 made in the bottom wall 49 of the chest 45. As shown in FIGS. 17'to 19, the flap valve disc 78 is mounted inside the chest being pivoted at 80 to a bracket 81 secured to the bottom wall 49. The valve disc 78 is urged into .closed position by coil spring 82 surrounding pivot 80 and applied at its ends against the bracket and the valve disc.

A transversely extending actuating rod 83 is journalled in the side walls 47 below bottom wall 49 of chest 45 and is provided with a pair of lever arms 84 rigidly secured thereto and carrying at their outer ends a roller 85 engaging the undersurface of the flap valve disc 78.

A U-shaped rod 86 is secured underneath the valve disc 78 and surrounds a roller 85. The rod 83 is rotated by either one of the L-shaped lever handles 77 attached thereto. Rotation of the handles 77 in a plane parallel to the side walls of the table and towards the center of the table will open the valve in an adjusted manner. Release of the handle causes automatic closing of the valve under action of spring 82 and also under action of the air pressure within the chest.

The playing pieces 87 are a small scale reproduction of a conventional stone used in ice curling. The body 88 is of circular shape when seen in top plan view and is preferably made of compressed wood chips with a convex side surface 89 and a central cavity 90 for light weight construction, the cavity being closed by a bottom disc 91 having its bottom surface preferably recessed with respect to the peripheral bottom edge 92 of the playing piece. The playing piece has a curved handle 93 secured to a disc 94 by a snap ring 95, the disc 95 being glued, or otherwise secured, to the body 88 centrally thereof.

The stones or playing pieces have about between 2% inches and 2% inches in diameter and each of the two sections of the end storage zone 51 can hold eight playing pieces, which is the regular number of pieces for each competing team in the conventional ice curling game. Normally the edge 92 is smooth but it can be provided with a layer of velvet material 96 in the form of a narrow annular band adhered to the bottom edge 92 all around the stone and providing downwardly directed flexible bristles or filaments adapted to touch the playing surface while air escapes between the filaments and between the solid bottom edge 92 of the stone and the playing surface. This, due to slight additional friction around the periphery of the stone, will cause curving of the stone when imparting a. rotation thereto, so as to more closely approach the actual ice curling game.

However, the stones can be played without the velvet-like fabric 96 by using the playing boards 47 for bouncing the stones off the same to position one stone behind an opponents stone or to hit a stone behind another stone.

The weight of the stones and the size and spacing of holes 61 are like in the first embodiment.

Air is supplied to the chest 45 at about 5 inches water gauge by means of an electrically air-operated blower 97 schematically shown in FIG. 12 and shown in more detail in FIG. 22. The air supply enters the center of the chest 45 through a central hole 98, shown in FIGS. 11

and 22. The air entering the chest hits a baffle 99 provided with a downwardly directed air diverging cone 100.

Referring to FIG. 22, the combined electric motor and fan are housed in a casing 101, the air inlet of which is at the bottom and the outlet 102 of which being suspended by a rubber tube to a flanged opening 104 made in the center of a box 105 secured to the bottom 49 of the chest 45. The air issuing into box 105 is diverted radially outwardly by means of a conical baffle 106 secured to the bottom of an annular air filter 107, which is secured by tie bolts 108 to the underside of chest bottom wall 49. Air filter 108 is similar to the air filters used for the air intakes of internal combustion engines. The inside of the air filter is in communication with opening 98.

The air sucked in by the blower 97 comes from the exterior by being first filtered by an annular air filter 109, similar to air filter 107. The air entering the filter passes through a central hole 110 made in the bottom ofa sound deadening box 1 1 1 spacedly surrounding the air blower 97 and attached to box 105 underneath the same. The air filter 109 is secured underneath box 111. The latter is internally lined with a sound-absorbing material 112, such as fiberglass and the like. The air passing through opening 110 is diverted by perforated baffle 113, which further cuts down the sound emitted by the air blower.

With this arrangement, the air is filtered twice so as to prevent any foreign particle and also any fibers which might become detached from the insulating layer 112 from reaching the small pin holes 61 of the top panel, whereby the latter will never become obstructed. Because the entire blower 97 is suspended by a rubber, or otherwise resilient tube 103, any vibrations from the blower will not be transmitted to the table assembly.

Thus, the air blower assembly produces a minimum of noise.

The electrically-operated air blower 97 may be controlled by a coin-operated timing mechanism so that, upon insertion of a coin, the blower will operate for a predetermined time period sufficient for the playing of one game. The coin-operated timing mechanism, not shown and of conventional construction, is mounted on one side panel 114, shown in FIG. 12, which hides the air blower mechanism and box 111, shown in FIG. 22.

With the'air blower 97 in operation, clean air is distributed at a uniform pressure over the entire playing surface 50, the two slide valves being fully open. Trial stones are played and, if they keep moving in the end zones 59 while they are supposed to be at rest, end zone pressure regulating knob 74 is rotated so as to gradually close the slide valves 65 to decrease the air pressure in the end zones to an accurate equal amount adjusted, so that the stones in the end zones will cease to move due to slight inclination of the playing surface or slight unequal air distribution or slight weight unbalance of the stones. The stones will then barely touch the playing surface. Thus, the friction coefficient of the end zones 59 has been slightly decreased with respect to the central playing zone 58.

' The game is played like conventional ice curling game with each player of a team alternating with players of the other team and each player playing two stones 87 at a time from one end to the other end of the table, so as to reach the target area 60 at the other end of the table. While a stone is moving, the player or one of his team may wish to operate one or the other of the lever handles 77 to adjustably open the flap valve 78 so as to adjustably decrease the overall pressure in chest 45, thereby increasing the friction on the moving stone slowed down more or less while the stone is moving, so that the latter may more accurately reach the tee or center of the target area 60.

As previously mentioned, stones can be bounced off the boards 47' to hit a stone behind another one or to place a stone behind another one.

As in the first embodiment, the valve assembly 78 could be operated in reverse with apertures 79, used as continuously bleeding apertures, and with manipulation of the lever 77 closing more or less the bleeding apertures to increase the air pressure and therefore reduce the coefficient of friction of the moving stones, more closely resembling the actual ice curling game when curling brooms are used to reduce the ice coefficient of friction.

Although the levers 77 have been shown as being directly connected to the valve operating rod 83, it is clear that the levers could be arranged closer to the end of the table and linked to the rod 83 by a suitable linkage for operating the flap valves located in the central chest compartment.

Although bleeding valves have been shown as the means to vary air pressure, other means could be used, such as a suitable electric control for varying the speed of rotation of the air blower, although this system would not be as fast to response.

Although table type games have been described, it is understood that the system would be clearly applicable to a full size curling ring with air blowers of suitable capacity.

The air cushion principle could be applied to other types of games, such as shuffle board and the like games wherein a playing piece is to be slid on a playing surface as opposed to being rolled.

in order to impart a curve to a stone in the curling game described, the playing surface formed layer 50 in FIGS. 11 to 22 is preferably made concave transversely thereof with, for instance, the central longitudinal zone lowered about fifty thousandths of an inch relative to the side edges. A stone played fast enough does not curve but a stone played at a low speed will curve towards the center line of the playing surface. With such a concave surface, one can place a stone behind another in the target area or hit a stone behind another stone.

What I claim is:

1. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion and wherein said box has at least first and second gastight compartments, said air supply being connected to said first compartment, said playing surface having a target area over said second compartment where the playing pieces are to come to rest, and further including valve means between said first and second compartments which are manually operated to adjustably vary the gas pressure in said second compartment.

2. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as'to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said box is of elongated shape and provides an elongated playing surface and further including partitions in said box dividing the same in at least a central compartment and two end compartments, and further including means to adjustably maintain said end compartments at a gas pressure smaller than in said central compartment.

3. A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supply of compressed gas is connected to said central box compartments and said means to maintain said compartments at a smaller gas pressure, includes manually adjustable valve means between said central compartment and said two end compartments.

4. A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said air supply is connected to said central compartment and said partitions have apertures to connect said central compartment to said end compartments and said lastnamed means include slide valve means for each partition to adjustably close and opensaid partition apertures, and an external manually controlled knob mounted on said box-and linkage means connected to said knob and to said slide valves to open and close the same simultaneously.

5. A game co'mprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by saidv playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced .under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box include air bleeding openings in said box for discharging the air to the exterior and lever-operated flap valve means for adjustablyopening and closing said bleeding openings.

6. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, and wherein said supply of compressed gas comprises an electrically-operated air blower having a casing with an air outlet end, the bottom of said box having an air inlet opening, the outlet end of said casing being suspended from said box through a flexible tube in communication with said box bottom opening.

7. A game as claimed in claim 6, further including a sound deadening box surrounding said air blower and having an air inlet, an air filter in said air inlet and a second air filter disposed intermediate said box and the outlet of said air blower, said sound deadening box being inwardly lined by sound deadening fibrous material.

* i t k 

1. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion and wherein said box has at least first and second gastight compartments, said air supply being connected to said first compartment, said playing surface having a target area over said second compartment where the playing pieces are to come to rest, and further including valve means between said first and second compartments which are manually operated to adjustably vary the gas pressure in said second compartment.
 2. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said box is of elongated shape and provides an elongated playing surface and further including partitions in said box dividing the same in at least a central compartment and two end compartments, and further including means to adjustably maintain said end compartments at a gas pressure smaller than in said central compartment.
 3. A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supply of compressed gas is connected to said central bOx compartments and said means to maintain said compartments at a smaller gas pressure, includes manually adjustable valve means between said central compartment and said two end compartments.
 4. A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said air supply is connected to said central compartment and said partitions have apertures to connect said central compartment to said end compartments and said last-named means include slide valve means for each partition to adjustably close and open said partition apertures, and an external manually controlled knob mounted on said box and linkage means connected to said knob and to said slide valves to open and close the same simultaneously.
 5. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box include air bleeding openings in said box for discharging the air to the exterior and lever-operated flap valve means for adjustably opening and closing said bleeding openings.
 6. A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, and wherein said supply of compressed gas comprises an electrically-operated air blower having a casing with an air outlet end, the bottom of said box having an air inlet opening, the outlet end of said casing being suspended from said box through a flexible tube in communication with said box bottom opening.
 7. A game as claimed in claim 6, further including a sound deadening box surrounding said air blower and having an air inlet, an air filter in said air inlet and a second air filter disposed intermediate said box and the outlet of said air blower, said sound deadening box being inwardly lined by sound deadening fibrous material. 